Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Munroe is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist from Canada trying his hand at the whole singer/songwriter thing. But unlike the Mraz's and Johnson's of the world, dude cut his teeth producing local hip hop and R&B acts. He was also quite good at it, receiving Juno nods (ie Canadia's Grammys) for his work. This led to him working with the likes Busta Rhymes, Sean Price and eventually putting out a mixtape. It was an interesting tape which featured a U2 cover, a Bob Dylan "Revox" and collabs with Joell Ortiz, Wale and Black Milk among others. If you put together the best moments of Pharrell's solo record, added more jangle and a J Dilla-ness to the beats then you'll be getting close as to what could be described as Munroe's sound.

Now I know that you're thinking - singer/songwriter writing hip hop-infused jams? Shit's gonna be a mess but the thing is, his music's actually quite good. He picks and chooses the right elements of his influences, meshes it all together and what we're left with is singer/songwriter shit that I will probably enjoy more than your parents.